seal of approval

Via Kottke’s Quick Links, we learn that the Trump regime is poised to relax regulations that restricts the use of the carcinogenic construction material asbestos—banned in over sixty countries.
The Environmental Protection Agency (which is not supposed to be ironically named) issued a so-called “SNUR”—a significant new use rule, that states that the presence of this substance will no longer be considered a factor in risk assessments. Trump, who in part cited the lack of fire-retardant asbestos as the reason that the World Trade Centre’s Twin Towers were consumed in flames, harbours scepticism that runs counter to the consensus of science and medical professionals but has garnered the endorsement of a Russian asbestos mining operation that’s using his image (unauthorised I guess but who knows?) on its toxic product. Learn more at the link above.

3ème bataille de picardie

A century ago on this day, the Allied forces, shifting from trench battles to armoured warfare, staged the Battle of Amiens, advancing over eleven kilometers in a single, decisive thrust. This first victory marked the beginning of what later became known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which signaled the end phase for the Great War, boosting the morale of French and British forces and dispiriting the Germans with thousands surrendering and taken captive.

something about the ratio of dishwashers to bathrooms seems off to me, but what would i, a mere wretch, too dumb and poor to avoid being exploited by the predatory cost of higher education, know?

Having followed the aesthetic criticism of Kate Wagner’s McMansion Hell for some time, we appreciated the alert from Things Magazine on her epic, unrelenting and much deserved takedown on the US Secretary of Education’s hedious seaside summer home.
Infamously inimical to the department that she is in charge of managing so as to be a moustache-twirling caricature of a villain that would be laughable except for the tragic fact that she is dismantling public schools and assaulting teaching as a vocation, Wagner—burdened with student loan debt herself—is dedicating her critique to all those hard working and dedicated public school teachers that taught her how to write.

trade wars are good, and easy to win

Last invoked in 1996 and causing the US to withdraw its threat of imposing secondary sanctions on Cuba, the European Union has adopted a blocking statue that provides a measure of protection to member state corporations that continue doing business with Iran and license to ignore the hectoring bluster emanating from the White House.
Though continued trade could be frustrated in practise, EU companies that are negatively impacted by the US unilateral departure from the terms of the deal with Iran and restoration of punitive tariffs can seek recovery through the courts and refuse to recognise jurisdictions that enforce the sanctions, which are backed only by the US (making good on a pandering promise made to mobilised, useful idiots) and few regional powers that stand benefit from a weaker Iran.